"Texans already are voting with their feet and going out of state" to gamble, Ellis said. Menendez noted that Texas is "surrounded by gaming."

Opposition immediately arose from conservative and Christian groups and a racetrack group pushing more narrowly for slot machines at tracks. Backers of Joint Resolution 31 and Senate Bill 1084, the broad gambling legislation, said their proposal would bring in at least $3 billion a year in new state and local revenue.

The legislation calls for $1 billion to be funneled to a trust fund for college scholarships and another $1 billion to transportation. Casino proponents also said their proposal would create 90,000 to 120,000 jobs.

Up to 12 casinos would be allowed statewide, with designated areas for nine of them: Galveston, South Padre Island, Bexar County, Tarrant County, Travis County and two each in Dallas and Harris counties.

A plan critic, Tommy Azopardi, of Texans for Economic Development, said the legislation would create a ``widely disparate tax rate'' between casinos and tracks (15 percent versus 35 percent), wouldn't allow tracks to have the same games as casinos and would greatly expand "the footprint of gambling in the state."